Jalopnik took a tour to McLaren's Special Operations workshop where Compaqs still slave away at their work just like they did in the 90s, when the superlative McLaren F1 was still in production. Some 100 of the original 106-car run still exist, and considering that each has a value of at least $5 million dollars or so on the low side, detail-oriented maintenance is a top priority.

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But while most of the McLaren F1's mechanical elements have aged quite well, the actual electronics used to control the operation of all those components are still sort of stuck in the 90s. As such, it takes an old hand like the Compaq LTE 5280—complete with 8 or 16MB of RAM—to talk to them.

"The reason we need those specific Compaq laptops is that they run a bespoke CA card which is installed into them. The CA card is an interface between the laptop software (which is DOS based) and the car.""We are currently working on an new interface which will be compatible with modern laptops as the old Compaqs are getting less and less reliable and harder to find."

The problem is all the worse when bespoke hardware is involved. You can mostly accommodate old software, but the very nature of microchip production—which requires all sorts of expensive, purpose-designed machinery—makes it completely implausible to continue producing any given kind of chip once it's obsolete and no longer in high demand. You can't just make old chips.

So much like McLaren F1s, there is a finite number of old Compaq LTE 5280s. They just don't make 'em like they used to.